2 Texas A&M cadets, 1 other killed in car crash

HOUSTON (AP) — Two Texas A&M Corps of Cadet freshmen and another woman were killed early Sunday in a wrong-way crash outside of Houston that police say may have been alcohol-related.

The crash happened at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday when the driver of a Ford Mustang drove south in a northbound lane, hitting head-on a Ford Explorer carrying three Texas A&M Corps of Cadet freshmen, KTRK-TV reported (http://bit.ly/13xXBjs ).

The driver of the Ford Mustang died at the scene, investigators said. The driver's identity has not been released.

The driver of the Explorer and a backseat passenger were also killed. They have been identified as 18-year-old Amy Paecheo and 18-year-old Miguel Hernandez. The front seat passenger is in stable condition at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

"The people in the Explorer, all three were freshmen at Texas A&M in the Corps of Cadets," Harris County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Susan Cotter told the television station. "They were on their way back to College Station for a function that they were supposed to be at this morning."

Police are investigating whether alcohol played a role in the crash.

The northbound lanes of Highway 290, where the crash occurred, reopened shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday.